The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-07-27
FAITHFUL TILL DEATH.

L A11IlE UL ILL DEAlI1.
"Clara-Clarap
A call, but given in very subdued
voice. The lady addressed-a pretty
blonde of thirty or thereabouts, with
winsome matronly dignity of man.
ner-looked up from her sewing. AT
the window her sister was beckoning
to her.
"New arrivals?" she asked, tossing
aside the small garment she was re
pairing. Al did not hear the cab"
Carriage" said the younger lady,
still in the low voice; ''and-and-I
was sure | was not mistaken-Mr.
Sergeant"
THAT handsome Ellis Sergeant we
met in London last winter? So it isr'
The carriage, which had been APP
| preaching slowly as the sisters spoke,
had reached now the top of the hill
upon which the hotel was situated,
and, screened by their closed blinds,
| they watched Ellis Sergeant as he
| sprang from the seat beside the driver,
| and opened the door of the closed
carriage.
An elderly lady was the first to
alight; then an old servant; and
| then
The two ladies at the window drew
| back with a shudder of horror and
pity as the next traveller, carefully
| assisted by the others, came cautiously
| from the carriage.
A slight figure, held with the uncer-
tain dropping attitude of the blind,
tiny hands outstretched, but a face
| whose scars, lines. and Disagreement
/ xuaro haropI 1acarin+ion. vivid cnav.lot
| lines and FUCKERS telling of some fiery
| ordeal, while the tightly-closed lids
| spoke eloquently of the sightless eyes
| they covered.
Under the close-fitting bonnet short
curling hair could be seen; but the
veil, that had been drawn over the
face, had caught in the carriage-top,
| and been torn from the disfigured
| countenance.
"Oh, Clara!" Amy Pauling gasped,
her pretty face actually pale with
horror. Did you ever see anything
so terrible?"
Mrs. Moore shuddered, and her
voice was full of womanly pity as she
replied:
.'Poor girll Oh, Amy, think what
she must have suffered And blind,
| tool"
That is a mercy, not misfortune" !"
said Amy quickly. "She may forget
the dreadful face if she never sees it.
Who can she be?"
| The same question was asked by
more than one inmate of the Noun
tain House before the day was over.
| Evidently she was an invalid, for she
was tenderly assisted to her room, and
left it only for a daily drive.
The names registered upon the hotel
books were Mrs. William Sargeant,
Ellis Sergeant, Miss Restyne, and
maid. And Mr.. Sergeant, finding
| some friends in the hotel, introduced
the sweet-faced old lady as his mother.
But neither spoke of Miss Restyne
excepting as friend, and never men
toned her unless some direct question
was asked.
But in that winter in London, where
Amy Pauling had met Ellis Sergeant
constantly in society, she had found
his handsome face and gentle manner
attractive beyond those of any other
gentleman in her large circle of ac-
quaintances.
Her brOther-in-law, man of wealth
and position, took an active interest in
politics, and Amy, pretty, accom-
plished, and most daintily high-bred,
was very much admired in Mrs.
Moore's ''set."
But her heart, at twenty-five, was as
untouched as it had been at six, until
Ellis Sergeant had made his first court
eous greeting, and paid her later the
attentions of friend.
Never, by word or look, had he gone
further, and more than one fair damsel
had sighed over his grave reticence,
and yet Amy had fancied sometimes
that he found some attraction at Mrs.
Moore's beyond her brother-in-law S
political discussions, or Clara's we'll
ordered dinners.
There had been three weeks of the
| pleasant intercourse that is so easy
between inmates of the same hotel at
summer resort, when one afternoon
Amy, seated upon the porch of a wing
of the hotel she had not before visited,
was in earnest conversation with a
new arrival, school-friend she had
not seen for four years.
And this friend, after an interchange
of condolences, was telling Amy a
story, the absorbing interest of which
she little guessed.
Behind the closely-shut blinds
against which she, Belle Creighton,
leaned her pretty head, another list
ener lay upon an invalid-chair, resting
from her drive.
Just to think Belle said "of Ellis
Sergeant being here! And Fanny
Restynel Have you seen her?"
''Yes-only once. She is generally
heavily veiled when she goes out t.
, drive, but / saw her the day she came.
1 4. -, i.
horror she is. No one else sees hel
but Margaret. and Margaret wa.
, Ellis's old nurse, and, of course
, worships Fanny. You would not be
lieve that Fanny Restyne, three year:
ago, was beauty"
Here the little hands of the listener
behind the closed blinds went softly t.
. her face, covering it, though she wa
alone in darkened room.
mot a mere pretty girl, like our
selves" said Belle, .sbut a downright
beauty. Her father had lost all hi
property and died, and Mrs. Sergeant
faraway cousin, took Fanny for /,
| companion, whereupon Ellis promptl,
fell in love with her and she witt
him"
Here the scarlet wool Amy wa
working in became a hopeless tangle
"Mrs. Sergeant, strange to say, wa
| delighted, although Ellis is an onl,
! ! child, and Fanny had not penny
and everything was charming, the en-
!; gagement announced. the troussedu il
. Preparation, when Ellis was taken il
with malarious fever-dreadfully i'll
delirious and all that While he wa
still very low, the house took fire il
the night.
There was woman from the hos
: pital, sitting up at night with Ellis
= and it was afterwards found sh
: drank, and the supposition was tha
she dropped spark in one OF tn
lower rooms. At any rate. sh
! promptly ran when she awoke to fin'
the flames around her. leaving he
patient to take care of himself
g Mrs Sergeant was carried ou
bodily, and Fanny, waking with tn
!, confusion, partly dressed herself, an
2 rushed to the room where Ellis lay j
2 heavy stupor. partially suffocated
!; they said afterwards.
ssShe threw the contents of tn
! water pitcher over him, dragged him
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